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JWT
JWT's picture
Uniforms, Uniformity and Perception

Those of you that have read my posts or articles on this forum, or in Jissen or other magazines, know that I teach a system known as DART.  You may also be aware that I consider DART to be Karate (and quite old fashioned Karate) even though we currently wear tracksuits and make a lot of use of body armour and other modern equipment and information.

In DART we went from wearing white Karate Gi (since so far as I was concerned I was teaching karate) to Ju Jitsu Gi with trousers (harder wearing jackets for some of the drills we did), to Ju Jitsu gi with t shirts (and occasional jacket wear) to make wearing chest guards easier, to tracksuits with trainers and coloured t shirts instead of coloured belts (for ease of moving in and out of armour quickly in class).  What we are wearing is very appropriate for what we do, especially for randomly pulling on or off armour for exercises, but I do wonder whether the lack of uniformity and/or the traditional white is costing us in terms of footfall coming to try classes.  We say that we are Karate on our website, but what does the public expect of Karate?  It's difficult to know whether the right way forward is to reimpose gi and belts, or simply to gain greater uniformity by insisting on the same type of trousers!  A toss up between practicality and marketing in some ways!  I know that ultimately it doesn't matter what you wear, it's what you do - but what does a random person choosing a martial art or looking for a karate class think?

To illustrate my point, have a look at these videos.

Here is a video of me talking about a kata in a gi:

Here is another video of me talking about a kata, but this time it's in a class and I'm wearing a tracksuit:

Here are my students engaging in our equivilent of free sparring, all wearing our distinctive T shirts over their body armour (the many colours here are to help distinguish each other following course feedback and are not reflective of the colours I use for grades):

What do you wear for your training?  Is it what you'd prefer to wear given the choice? Do you think uniforms make a big difference to club/style perception and identity?

Black Tiger
Black Tiger's picture

In a word, yes uniforms give a sense of dicipline, tracky bottoms and a T-Shirt is a bit of "whatever is clean" and no thought into it. Gi's are designed to be treatred in the way they are. I for one don't wish to go through 3 - 4 T-shirts every class.

You get the Idea of who is giving more ffort if the Gi is tidy usually the techniques are tidy too.

Trainers or Shoes, i don't use them but havve concidered it but thing with trainers is the dirt from the street is borught onto the mat also. I would be happy for Dojo Shoes and Outside shoes separated

Mr P
Mr P's picture

I think you have to choose the uniform that best fits what you do and how you train. From what I can see your choice of t shirts is appropriate for quick changes into and out of armour padding.

Personally, and I know it's shallow I prefer to train in a gi if I am doing karate or jujitsu. However, I did go to a few Krav Maga lessons and was happy to wear track suit bottoms and t shirt!

regarding shoes, in winter I would love to be able to wear kick boxing / tae kwondo style trainers for comfort against the cold floors and landing from jumps would certainly be much easier on my old bones and joints.

alan

PASmith
PASmith's picture

Personally I like a nice gi and a class full of people in them. I think it gives off a good vibe and sets a tone. I like the utility of being able to grab them and rag people about without worrying to much about damaging them. I like that they replicate general outdoor wear pretty well (jeans and a jacket/coat/shirt). An MMA club I used to go to had a "wear what you want" policy and it always grated on me a little bit. Just looked a bit disorganised and...well...shoddy.

But I can understand how they may be limiting with the armour and stuff. Maybe John you could look at designating certain sessions as "gi" sessions and certain other session "street clothes" sessions? So at least at certain times what you are doing what looks like "Karate"? Or start the session in gis and have people drop the jacket as they move into using armour later in the session? Keep a t-shirt handy and the change shouldn't take that long.

Tau
Tau's picture

The dogi shouldn't be necessary and I think adds a layer of "artificialness" to training. But Martial Arts is more than just pragmatism to some of us. I feel comfortable and "me" when I'm in my dogi. When I get home after class I usually keep it on until bed. 

Bear in mind that for the organisation for whom I primarily teach, we wear blue dogi which is a step away from the traditional white so I wonder if that has had effect of people's perception of us.

JWT
JWT's picture

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Is it the Gi or the uniformity that you like the most, that makes you feel part of a group?  I'm intersted in increasing our uniformity, but I have to admit I find Karate Gi with trainers still looks odd to me, whereas tracksuits with trainers or kickboxing trousers with trainers do not.

I'm very attached to wearing trainers or shoes for training as you do move, balance and kick differently (against pads or people) in them to barefoot, and for me the difference is significant enough to have them as a permanent fixture.  With regard to hygiene students wear indoor trainers and change footwear on arrival (if they aren't changing all their clothes before and after class), and to a certain extent I think we might be less at risk of certain foot diseases.

As you can see from this video (yes, I'm aware that students are doing things in a less desirable way in places - that's why I video them) we have a 'uniform' of our grade shirts, though unlike belts students think nothing of putting on a junior grade shirt if their current one isn't washed and the lack of uniformity with regard to shorts/trousers means that to some they may not look 'in uniform'.  I'm interested in going for a set plain or striped short and/or trouser of the same design - what do you think?

Talassar
Talassar's picture

I think that you are right to give some thought to your marketing. Many will argue that none of it matters, some argue that tradition is important, others that it is the training and nothing else that counts. However I am of the opinion that tradition and training are there to be passed on and if you don't get people in the door then these things will die out. So to my way of thinking you do need to give some thought to how you are perceived by potential members. It is only once they are through the door and listening to you that they will understand your philosophy, your ethos.

Many clubs have separate beginners and advanced sessions, separate sparring/kumite sessions, some even have specialised fitness and conditioning sessions. Perhaps you should give some thought to how you divide up your training? As PASmith suggested you can then have different expectations in different sessions. Get people in the door and then get them wearing whatever is appropriate.

Black Tiger
Black Tiger's picture

I looked at colour coded rugby shirts and MMA shorts for a Freestyle version of my Karate

JWT
JWT's picture

Black Tiger wrote:

I looked at colour coded rugby shirts and MMA shorts for a Freestyle version of my Karate

Interesting.  I assume rugby shirts because of their toughness?

Is this something you are still planning to do, or was it too much of a split from the classical look?

Black Tiger
Black Tiger's picture

JWT wrote:
Interesting.  I assume rugby shirts because of their toughness?

Is this something you are still planning to do, or was it too much of a split from the classical look?

I used to play rugby so I know how tough they are and yes it is something I'm still planning but need to find a decent supplier.

Was thinking White, Yellow, Orange, Green, Brown & Black but the old school shirts as the modern ones are figure hugging.

JWT
JWT's picture

Thanks for the feedback.

After weighing up the options we've decided that returning to Gi is not the right option for us as it would interfere too much with our training methods.  Despite staying 'western' in dress, for greater uniformity we will be moving to a set top and bottom uniform, with the bottom half available as either shorts or trousers.   

We currently have a range of shirt colours which denote grade, but even with the same logos they don't always create a unit identity when we have shots of people training together.  As a result we will be moving over to  single t shirt.

shoshinkanuk
shoshinkanuk's picture

We wear dogi bottoms and dojo T shirts for general training, or full dogi.

for 'occasions' we wear full dogi.

We tend not to grab into clothing for TuiTe and NageWaza so T shirts tend to be just fine.

Usually white dogi, but some of us have black as well, or mix it's no problem for me, I do think other colours are weird but thats just how I was bought up!

Tau
Tau's picture

Anyone else here wear hakama?

AndyC
AndyC's picture

Only on Friday nights (after a few beers, and when I go by the name of Shirley)...the morning after photos are a nightmare though surprise. How about you?

Am I on the right forum here?